Duke Can't Let Virginia Tech Hang Around

By Anthony Lenahan

Jeremy Brevard-USA Today Sports

Duke has no shot to win the ACC title due to Miami’s fantastic season, but they still have a lot to take care of during the final stretch of the year. A possible No. 1 seed is on the line, but at the same time, with a couple of bad losses the Blue Devils could possibly drop out of a No. 2 seed.

In order to get a 1 or 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, the Blue Devils are going to have to beat the teams they should beat and tonight they take on one of those teams. Virginia Tech is just 11-14 overall and and just 2-10 in ACC play, but they are home to the nation’s leading scorer, Erick Green.

Duke has to go on the road to play Virginia Tech and they can’t let the Hokies hang around. VA Tech is a team playing with a great deal of confidence after going on the road and just falling short to North Carolina State in overtime, while Duke has been a little shaky of late.

They are coming off of a road loss to Maryland in a game where they didn’t look very good and couldn’t get big stops when they needed them. In their two games prior to that, they let North Carolina come into Cameron Indoor and give them a very good game and they also went on the road to Boston College who is also at the bottom of the ACC and they were lucky to get a win.

With the way Duke has been playing and the fact they will be on the road in a crazy environment, it could be a close game. Duke can’t let that happen as they need to go on the road and blow out a weak VA Tech team, and really make a statement.

Green has the capability to go off on any given night, which is why he averages 25 points per game, and Duke needs to shut him down. Green does have a little bit of talent around him to limit the double teams, but he is the Hokies primary player.

Seth Curry and Mason Plumlee need to step up as seniors and have big games. They need to use their leadership to get this team back on track, and they are also Duke’s best two players.

Virginia Tech is coming into this game confident, and they have the crowd on their side. Duke needs to get ahead early and stay ahead in order to avoid a disaster.